Jan. 18 Readers' letters

From Mercury News readers

Posted:
01/16/2014 01:00:45 PM PST

Updated:
01/16/2014 01:00:46 PM PST

State already goes to 'absurd' lengths

In response to Sen. Jerry Hill's proposal to mandate that all schools have prekindergarten, Charles Shoemaker (Letters, Jan. 13) extrapolates a scenario he seems to think takes the idea to the "absurd," by suggesting that "all children be schooled at taxpayer expense as soon as they leave the hospital upon delivery." Most people are not aware that what Shoemaker suggests (tongue in cheek or not), is already part of Santa Clara County Early Learning Master Plan 2010, which is available on any search engine. That plan calls for "Birth to age eight -- a developmental continuum of learning from birth to age eight" (page 8). Elsewhere the plan calls for prenatal visits to prospective parents. So plans for government early learning is to begin in the womb. Santa Clara County and the state of California are not unique, for such master plans can be found in other states as well. The state of Washington is currently advertising to fill the job created to coordinate essentially the same plan. It is a well orchestrated national agenda.

Mary Thompson

Campbell

Op-ed against plastic bags was insulting

Andy Keller's recent op-ed "Plastic bags: A California ban would create jobs" (Opinion, Jan. 14) was as flawed as it was offensive. A lot of people in our state are hurting and struggling to find good jobs -- including many in my congregation. Keller's suggestion that banning a 100 percent recyclable product made by thousands of hardworking Californians will somehow result in the creation of jobs is beyond fantasy.

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As an importer of reusable bags, is it not clear that Keller has a financial interest in seeing government -- rather than market demand -- eliminate his competition? People should be free to choose whatever type of bag they want -- as long they are disposed of properly, preferably through recycling.

And for Keller to mention civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks in this self-serving piece of writing -- even just as an historical reference point -- is insulting. Rosa Parks was a friend of mine. Advocating for bag bans is not a pioneering effort; it's misguided at best. I urge lawmakers, particularly Sens. Kevin de Leon and Ricardo Lara, to continue to reject bag ban legislation -- which in any form threatens California jobs.

The Rev. Amos Brown

Senior Pastor Third Baptist Church of San Francisco

Transit to Levi Stadium must be affordable

My husband and I have been 49er season ticket holders for decades now and have made the trip up the Peninsula to Candlestick Park from south Fremont in our own car all this time. Why use a car and not public transportation? Because the BART, Caltrain, and buses from either Santa Clara or Alameda counties are too slow (with transfers) and too expensive. So now we have season tickets for the new Levi's Stadium and are trying to find the best way from Fremont to Santa Clara. Here is a golden opportunity for the VTA to get more people out of their cars and into public transportation to the stadium for games and other events. We will take public transportation as long as the VTA doesn't gouge the fans simply because they can. Sell tickets at affordable prices and more people will get on the bus, train, or light rail.

Stacie Thomas

Fremont

Citizen engagement can trump special interests

I agree with Bob Saint (Letters, Jan. 10) that powerful moneyed interest groups are flooding election campaigns hoping to convince voters to support the groups' self-serving views, but I reject his proposal to wait for a messianic presidential candidate to solve the problem. Simply waiting or throwing up our hands in defeat isn't an option.

To paraphrase President Barack Obama, true democracy and real freedom require hard work. If we the people do the hard work of educating ourselves about the local and national challenges we face, being active in our communities, and engaging with our political leaders, we can overcome the narrow special interest groups that are trying to manipulate the election process.

Lee Gavens

Saratoga

How to make California schools excellent again

Thank you for reporting on Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed California school budget. The increase in school funding is good news for many Californians and shows Brown to be a strong supporter of education.

Your paper, however, reported that the California average per-pupil funding is projected to increase from $8,469 a year to $9,194 without providing any context of what that increase means for California. Top-performing education states in the U.S. spend $16,000 to $22,000 per student. The U.S. average per pupil spending is $12,000.

A generation ago, California schools ranked in the top five, fully funded and top performing. Now, California ranks 49th in per pupil spending and its schools are bottom performing in math, science and reading. Since 1980, we've built 19 prisons. By disinvesting in our schools, we're killing our economy and creating "tax-takers" instead of "tax makers."

Erica Warp concludes her argument (Opinion, Jan. 10) for children's educational mobile devices this way: "And it's not inconceivable to imagine an app that reminds kids to go play outside." Is this the best she can do with a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley? Another one of her points is this: "There is even an app ... for creating their own apps." But her biggest blunder was downplaying the credibility of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She called these experts' suggestion ... to limit screen time for young children to less than two hours a day ... an "all-encompassing restriction." Well, it's time for me to coach basketball, and I didn't need an app to remind me!